Countdown
by ditto9
Summary: The end of the year brings nothing but bitterness to Miss Valentine - until Chris decides to step in. Oneshot CxJ. Set in Pre-Arklay Mansion time.


Clairey demanded a New Year story last night, so here you go dafty. Enjoy 8D

I didnt want to write a fiiiic :c

(plzremember - i was forced into this by a drunken sister, shes scary! :0 Love you though sis)

* * *

_'Oh wow, that time of year again. Everyone is in such merriment in the STARS office, it's pathetic. On the other hand, it would be nice to have family to visit over this holiday.'_

Jill continued her bitter thoughts as she watched Chris and Barry decorate the office with tinsel and other papery crap that signified the end of the year, the middle of the seemingly eternal cold, and the start of the next, and the continuation of the same old cycle every year. She sat slumped on her desk, doing no work as it was Christmas Eve, and the other members had insisted (or more like pressured) Wesker to let them have this Eve off. Jill immediately volunteered for the night-time phone watching, she wasn't a fan of Christmas for good reasons.

Besides, who would she celebrate it with? Her cat, Milo? She doubted very much if he'd enjoy any of the traditions of Christmas Day. And anyway, he seemed to have many other engagements these days, he was always off out the cat flap. Damned loneliness. Jill knew she brought it on herself, but then again, she seemed happy this way. Until it was this time of the year, of course.

She'd received a couple of wrapped gifts from the fellow STARS members, one from her_ 'Secret Santa' _(she prayed it wasn't Joseph) and one from someone she didn't know. She asked Rebecca if it was her, but she'd replied with a shake of the head and a few words to say she hadn't had chance to buy anyone yet. Jill went to ask Barry, who answered her with a nose tap and a wink, which made her eyebrow rise. Better than to question it, she went to ask Chris who replied with a weird laugh, and said he didn't know what she was on about. That night Jill took it home and sat staring at her coffee table, which she had placed it on. For a few fleeting moments, she dared herself to rip the paper off and find out who it was from and what it was.

There was a buzzing atmosphere in the office that night, as they all filtered off to their homes, Barry beaming the most. Jill wondered if she were to be alone in the office that night. Not that she minded - she'd hate to drag someone away from the festivities. She had brought her wrapped gifts, hidden in her messenger bag, thinking to open them at midnight. Alone. Jill sighed and settled in her desk, pulling her hoodie over her arms and crossing them. She pulled her beret over her eyes and slumped, but she soon felt a light tap on her shoulder, and she lifted it back up and peered at her interrupter.

"You have the night shift tonight?" Chris looked down at her, one hand in his pocket. Jill nodded and looked away. "Need some company, then?" he continued. Jill shook her head.

"I'm not taking you away from Claire at Christmas"

"Hey, I'm not seeing her this year, she's staying with her boyfriend," the 'b' word he said with as much contempt as he could muster "and his family of course. I'll be as lonely as you this year"

"How do you know I will be?"

"Because you always are, you won't come over for Thanksgiving, Easter, any holiday. I know you don't have any family to visit, because you're always in your apartment" Jill pouted slightly, feeling ruffled and remained silent. She heard a chair being pulled along the floor, and felt Chris sit down next to her. "I'm right, aren't I? You don't have anyone to visit, do you?"

"No"

"Well then, if we're both alone, we might as well celebrate together, eh partner?"

"Hmm"

They sat in silence for a while; it was a little more awkward than it should have been. Until Jill broke it.

"Why do you care anyway?" a hint of resentment in her voice.

"Because you're my friend, I care about you"

"Heh, care? I wouldn't know what that felt like, to be honest, so forgiving for not leaping for joy"

"Stop being such an icy...icy thing" he grumbled, a little stung.

"I didn't ask you to join me tonight; you can leave if you can't be bothered with me"

"That's the point!" Chris turned Jill's chair to face him "I can be bothered, I don't want you to be unhappy Jill! Cant you grasp that, or are you too stupid?"

Jill narrowed her eyes at him. His brow was raised expectantly, until Jill let hers go and she let out a long breath.

"Fine, but it doesn't mean I have to care about _you,_" Chris grinned widely despite the sentence and leaned forward to give her a quick embrace. Jill looked shocked as he withdrew, but it didn't faze him in the slightest, as he ran to his bag and pulled out what looked like a selection of snacks and drinks. "Ready for tonight, much, Redfield?"

"You bet it"

"You know, any outsider would think you'd set this up"

"Yes, you're right" he replied. Jill looked sceptically at him for a minute as he withdrew a box of biscuits. "Maybe I did"

"Why do you even bother, Redfield, you wont change me"

"I wouldn't want to, you're great as you are" his words took her back a little. It was getting too much, she'd never felt like this before, bombarded with caring words. She took off her beret and laid it on the desk gently. "Chris..."

"Yeah?" he asked without turning around

"Is this another lame attempt at asking me out on a date? Or trying to turn tonight into one?" A few weeks after they'd started, Chris pulled some moves on Jill, and had received a black eye as a result. Forest, Joseph and Richard, who were there at the time, winced in pain as she stormed off and Chris nursed his eye, letting out pained noises. They rushed over to him, and asked how he was. He didn't say anything, but let out an admiring _'Wow'_ regardless. Later on, he told them she was clearly the most perfect woman he'd ever met, but as she wasn't interested, he would respect her and leave her as a friend at most. They had laughed at him, saying it was a stupid idea to even think like that.

"Not at all Miss Valentine" he grinned "I'm not that slimy"

Jill laughed warmly, and stood up to go look at the food he was laying out on Wesker's desk, which he was using as a table. She felt a surge of gratitude when she noticed there was nothing but the food she enjoyed. She grinned at Chris, who smiled back at her brightly and put an arm around her shoulder.

"Merry Christmas Jill"

A few hours later, and a somewhat stunned Chris was talking away to a suddenly animated Jill, who was happier and more talkative than usual. They'd worked their way through the snacks moderately, and were sat on the floor, resting their backs against the captain's desk. They were reminiscing on their life in STARS, and how they'd enjoyed it so far, agreeing on the fact it was a great thing it'd happened, and how they hoped it'd never end. It continued on, and they started talking more about themselves, and their pasts. Jill couldn't believe she'd met someone with some of the same interests as her, and someone who was brought up in a military environment.

"I don't like how I've always had to be the one taking orders" Chris said, out of the blue

"You'd like to be a Captain, or higher?" Jill queried.

"Sure, it'd be great. Especially when I wanna settle down and start a family"

"You want to do all that crap? The cooking, loving wife in the apron, the boy and girl children, a five bedroom house with a pool and a dog?"

"Not really, I'd prefer to have a wife who understood me, maybe even worked with me. That'd be great, not having a kiss on the cheek to go to work with, but I could see us both getting in the jeep and going to work together. At some big military thing and I'd rather have only one child if any, I'd not want to end up KIA and leave them on their own, y'know? And yes, the big house would be nice, but a gym sounds better than a pool"

Jill raised her eyebrows, she'd never heard of anyone who didn't want the 'perfect', idyllic family life. It sounded nice. She told him so, in a quiet voice, all her cynicism gone. He laughed hollowly. "What's your ideal life, V?"

"A little like yours, but then that'd be kidding myself into thinking I could even get a husband. I see myself taking orders for the rest of my life, my work becoming my home"

"What do you mean 'kidding yourself', Jill you're gorgeous and you should know that"

"You say that so calmly, you're an idiot"

"Jill, come on, have you ever looked at yourself properly? You're not a supermodel, but you're so much prettier and natural" Chris got up on his knees and turned to scrutinize her face. Before she could tell him to shove off, he continued "You've got the most amazing eyes I have ever seen, they're really big and blue, and you've got lovely hair, even though you hate people looking at it, and...Your mouth. It's just..." his voice dimmed as a pained expression crossed his face, he mumbled an apology and stood up, excusing himself to go use the bathroom and shuffling out the door. The door clicked, and Jill let out a breath she'd held in the entire time, her heart racing. This was a new feeling, it made her feel uncomfortable. She lifted herself up on the desk and grabbed one of the beer bottles, snapping the cap off and downing as much as she could in one gulp, wondering what the hell had just happened.

Outside, Chris shoved his hands on his pockets and stormed off to the toilets. He slammed the door against the frame as he walked in, and punched the wall. He remembered his sister's words one night she visited.

_"You're so in love with her! You don't shut up about her, and it's kinda creepy how you notice everything about her. Creepy in a romantic stalker type way, of course Bro'"_

_"You're talking rubbish Claire"_

_"No I'm not! You are, and you should tell her one day, you never know. She might like that type of thing, not 'Has an angel been reported missing from Heaven' stupid pick-up line, or whatever you tried to use on her"_

_Love_ had whirred around in his head for so long, and it annoyed him to no end, that every time he saw her, he remembered what Claire said, and it irritated the life out of him. He'd even gone to Barry for advice, who annoyingly agreed with Claire.

_"I've seen the way you look at her, Chris, and to be fair, the whole team thinks you are"_

To which Chris replied with a scoff and told him to tell the team to shut the hell up.

And just then in that room, he told her how he saw her, and he wanted her so badly, it was like desperation. To pull himself away from her was painful, and he felt like a massive idiot. He let out a guttural growl and started to make way to a stall.

When he returned to the room, he was greeted with Jill sitting at her desk, playing with some paper clips, joining them together, then pulling them apart.

"I'm sorry about that, V, I guess I'm just one of those people who hates it when their friends can't see good things about themselves," he said. No reply came from Jill, who carried on ripping apart paper clips. Chris sighed and looked at his watch. "Hey, Jill, it's past midnight! Happy Christmas!" he walked over to her and patted her on the back. She smiled up at him, before she gasped and stood out of her chair and ran over to her bag.

"I've been dying to know who this was off!" She grabbed the two presents out of her bag. Chris thought she was referring to the Secret Santa, and knew it was Rebecca, and told her so. "Not the Secret Santa! This mysterious box! Remember I asked you about it? I asked Barry too, and he was being all weird about it" She sat at her desk and undid the beautiful foil paper. A long, blue, leather-bound jewellery box greeted her. She gasped as she opened it, to find a watch with a brown leather strap. It had the STARS logo on the face, and she watched it ticking around.

"Turn it over, look at the base," Chris said nonchalantly. She did as he requested, and found her name engraved into the metal. She silently ran her finger over the grooves, and felt the mechanism moving beneath. Chris gently took it out of her hands and wrapped it around her wrist, tying it securely. "Suits you, doesn't it? I thought it would" he said wistfully. Jill's head snapped to look at him.

"You - you bought this for me?"

"Sure did" Chris replied, but he couldn't look at her, despite the awed smile she wore. She bit her lip and stood up, grabbing him and hugging him tightly.

"Why?" she whispered.

"Because everyone deserves presents at Christmas" he smiled warmly, closed his eyes and held her frame close to him.

"I feel bad, though, I haven't got you anything" she snuggled into his body, enjoying the warmth and soft fabric.

"This is enough, believe me" he whispered.

"But this must've cost a fortune!"

"You never spend anything on yourself anyway; I figured it could be my job to do that"

Jill pulled out of the hug and touched the watch on her wrist, smiling widely. She loved it, he could tell, and he was utterly relieved. He rubbed her shoulder and silently ambled off to pick up some food from the table. Jill set it in her mind to buy him something, she wouldn't let it pass and not get him anything. She grinned to herself as she schemed, and went to join him.

-----

A few days later, and the buzz of Christmas had died down considerably, but everyone was talking about New Year. Barry had decided to visit his wife's family with the kids, Rebecca was spending it with her new boyfriend, and the rest of the lads were all excited about going to a party that Forrest's friend had invited them to. Jill looked to be on her own, once again, come New Year's Eve.

"You coming, V?" Chris said as the rest of the guys were heading off home to get ready, except for Brad Vickers and Captain Wesker, who were sharing the night-watch (much to both of their distaste) "You should totally come to the party"

"No thanks, not my style. But there's something I need you to do for me" She smirked up at him, and he inquired. The favour turned out to be a lift home. When they got to her apartment, it was getting closer to ten o' clock at night, and Chris was stunned to find himself with an invite inside. He'd never been to her apartment, he was ridiculously excited and parked the car and hopped out. He ran around the car and tried to let Jill out, but she'd already stepped out and was in the process of closing her door. She raised a sceptic eyebrow at him, and he laughed and put the hand in his pocket, pressing the button to set the central locking. As she took him up to her apartment, she wore a grin as excited as his. The door was unlocked, and they stepped in, Jill switched on lights and the cat's collar could be heard jingling as it jumped off the sofa. She nodded her head at the couch and promised she wouldn't keep him long, to which he replied he didn't mind, and she disappeared into the bedroom. Jill unzipped her boots and placed them in the cupboard, only to reach to the top of it and pull down a wrapped item, somewhat similar to her surprise present the previous week. She could barely contain her excitement as she hurried back into the sitting room and presented him with the gift.

He looked shocked, and proceeded to unwrap it. Out fell a pale green, leather knife-shaped object, a holder for his STARS issued knife (that Wesker prohibited from being in the office, due to his old wallet for it was destroyed. Chris constantly, and loudly, complained about it, saying it was a horrible grey leather thing that he hated anyway). It was stiff canvas on the back, with straps meant for securing it to his uniform. And on the rear also, was his name embroidered next to the STARS logo.

"I figured partners should have something that matches; now we both have things with our names on!" Jill said to a quiet Chris, worried he didn't like it.

"Jill, this is, wow, thank you so much!" he finally said a look of wonder across his features as he stood up and gripped her tightly, pulling her to his chest in a crushing hug. She smiled slightly into his t-shirt, glad he liked it. "You know me so well, V, it's great to have such an awesome friend!"

"Yeah well, I'm glad you like it, but you have a party to get to!" She said, avoiding his eyes as she pulled away from him.

"Ah, screw the party, I'll spend New Year with you I think" he smirked down at her. She put her hands on her hips and pursed her lips at him, daring him to push his luck.

"I was gunna wash my hair tonight"

"Excellent, so was I"

She smiled despite her facade, and dropped her arms and affirmed that he could stay.

After setting up some coffee for the both of them, they sat on the sofa as Chris played with his new knife wallet.

"Weren't you and the guys gunna pick up some 'hot chicks' as Joseph put it?" Chris laughed shortly, and put his arm around Jill.

"Not me, they were planning on it, but that's not the way I'd like to meet a girl" he simply replied. Jill shrugged.

"Why not? You'd probably pick up all the 'hot chicks' you wanted"

"It's not like I want any of them, though"

"Why, come on, I know you don't have a girlfriend. You spend too much time with me to pretend you have a girl. Besides, you'd be with her tonight"

"Fair point" but Chris refused to continue. He knew it was frustrating her, but to tell Jill his true thoughts...he couldn't face that consequence.

"So?"

"I don't think I'd get picked up by all those 'hot chicks' anyway," Jill scoffed and reached forwards for her coffee. "What? Got an opinion to share, Valentine?" After a sip of coffee, she shook her head. "Come on, you got something to say, say it"

"Shut up Redfield, you're very attractive, but I didn't want to inflate your fat head any more"

Chris laughed and mimicked drinking his coffee, taking small sips due to it being too hot to down. The silence between them lasted a few minutes, until Jill heard the ticking of her clock on the wall. She looked up, and was surprised to see it was already half eleven. There was 30 minutes left of this year, and it felt weird to think of it that way. How many nights had she seen the same time and thought nothing of it?_ Hmm._

"Penny for them?"

For around twenty minutes, they carried on light conversation, keeping the silences at bay. Jill asked Chris if he wanted to go phone his sister, but he waved his arm noncommittally in her direction, saying the lines would be blocked this time, and he'd do it later in the day. Jill shrugged, and her eyes whipped to the clock again. Two minutes till the next year, wow. Other apartments in the building seemed to be having brilliant times with blaring music and cheering, and Jill wondered how the other guys from work were celebrating.

"Twenty seconds till tomorrow" Chris said calmly, looking at his watch. Jill looked at hers - fifteen seconds.

And then the countdown from upstairs started.

_Ten._

Chris laughed and told her he'd set the same times for their watches.

_Five._

Then told her it was good luck to kiss at midnight, smirking.

_Three, two, one._

Jill had leaned forward to claim his mouth on hers, kissing him gently, her eyes shut as the cheers around them rang out for an entirely different situation than theirs. Chris' eyes were wide open; shocked that he'd got what he wanted. She pulled back, hearing fireworks in the distance, and looked into his stunned face and laughed quietly.

And at that moment, she felt she could face the consequences later, and leaned back in, grabbing his head and bringing her lips to his again, and this time, Chris responded, and pulled her body to his, feeling like he could tell her right then and there that he was madly in love with her, and he never wanted it to end. But he knew there was a time and place for that, and he would make sure it was as soon as possible. Their kissing continued past midnight, and the start of the year signalled the start of a new side to their partnership.

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The next morning was a blissful scene, the two had fallen asleep on the sofa, in each others arms, still in their uniform, Jill's head tucked under Chris' chin as she rested peacefully and he held onto her lower back and stroked it absent-mindedly.

_'Happy New Year, for sure'_ he thought to himself, squeezing her a little tighter, not wanting to let go.

* * *

Well, there you go! Hope you liked it Clairey, I know I don't :


End file.
